Feel Good Friday: Clark County twin draft horses defy odds and continue to thrive
GREENWOOD, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – Farmers in Clark County are happier more than a year later since two of their draft horses were born.
“Kind of statistical odds, about 1 in 10,000 there would be twins. Of that 1 in 10,000, a little bit over 1% of those actually are born alive as twins. So, this is a pretty rare occurrence,” said Dr. James Van Over, the veterinarian who helped John and Marion Petras with the birth of their twin draft horses.
We introduced you to the Petras’ and their horses in April 2024 when the horses were barely over a week old.
“You could see, they’re healthy, they’re fine. They’re a little over a year old right now. We named them Teacup and Buttercup. Their mom’s name is Peanut and we call her Peanutbutter Cup,” said John Petras.
And those baby twin draft horses have grown quite a bit.
“Buttercup is a little more laid back. Teacup is a little more goofy and wild and wants to play and test you once in a while. Like right now, she’s trying to walk over me. They’re young. They’re just like kids. They need to be taught. They need to be trained,” said Petras.
The married farmers always had Dr. Van Over on speed dial. The chances of the horses surviving their first couple of weeks was also dicey.
“First week, they have a large challenge with immunity,” said Dr. Van Over.
“It was a struggle with umbilical infections. One of them developed pneumonia almost immediately,” said Petras.
“I came out one time and it was almost dead. It was very close, so we struggled to keep it alive,” said Dr. Van Over.
The veterinarian also had concerns about the horses starving, given a mother horse, or a mare, has only so much milk to give for two filly’s as opposed to one.
“It’s difficult to have twins in horses because there’s just not enough for them to eat,” said Dr. Van Over.
“Mom was fed like a dairy cow. Lots of protein to produce milk,” said Petras. “I would imagine they are going to grow up to fully mature to about 1,700lbs to 1,800lbs.Which is a pretty good sized drafted horse”
All in all, it does take a village, or in this case, a small family on the Clark County Farm.
“It takes both mom and ownership to make this happen,” said Dr. Van Over.
“We are very blessed and lucky that they survived and are turning out to be very intelligent babies,” said Petras.
John and Marion said they raise twin draft horses to compete, but of course Teacup and Buttercup are years away from that or even training.
They and the veterinarian said Peanut, the mare, is pregnant again. All are hoping it is not twins again.
Below is the original story from April 16th, 2023 when the twin horses were just born.
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